BIOGRAPHY
John Ellis Ross III was born November 27, 1995 in Long Beach, California. He is a Wide Receiver for the New York Giants in the NFL.
As a child, Ross played in Snoop Dogg's All-Star league. Ross attended Jordan High School in Long Beach, California. He played wide receiver and cornerback in football and ran track. As a senior, Ross finished third in the 100 metres at the 2013 CIF Southern Section Division 1 final, with a time of 10.66 seconds. He also recorded a time of 21.56 seconds in the 200m.
Regarded as a four-star recruit by ESPN, Ross was ranked as the No. 49 overall prospect in the state of California. He committed to the University of Washington to play college football.
Coming out of college, Ross was predicted to be selected in the first round by draft experts and analysts. He was considered one of the top wide receivers and was ranked the second best by NFL analyst Bucky Brooks before the combine. As a top wide receiver prospect, he received an invitation to the NFL Combine and broke Chris Johnson's 4.24 record time in the 40-yard dash. Ross finished with a 4.22, but strained his calves while pulling up at the end of his run. The calf injuries hindered his ability to complete all the set combine drills or run his second attempt at the 40-yard dash. Ross attended Washington's Pro Day, but only ran positional drills. The next day, he had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder. He was ranked as the third best wide receiver prospect in the draft by ESPN and was ranked the second best wide receiver prospect by Sports Illustrated and NFLDraftScout.com.
The Cincinnati Bengals selected Ross in the first round (9th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. On May 7, 2017, the Cincinnati Bengals signed Ross to a four-year, $17.1 million contract with a signing bonus of $10.6 million.
On March 19, 2021, Ross signed a one-year $2.5 million contract with the New York Giants
